Nehring campaign rolls out first ad of Lt. Governor race, challenging Gavin Newsom on drug legalization and focusing on drug abuse as a women's issue

SAN DIEGO - Pointing to the sharp rise in drug abuse in California that would result if Gavin Newsom gets his way on drug legalization, the Ron Nehring for Lt. Governor campaign this morning released its first ad of the campaign, "Mothers, Daughters, Sisters, Friends."

SCRIPT AND FACT SHEET: "Mothers, Daughters, Sisters, Friends"

"In America, one baby is born addicted to drugs every hour. More lives destroyed."

FACT: "One drug dependent baby is born every hour in the United States," ("Born addicted: Drug-screening pushed for pregnant women," USA TODAY, 10/9/2014).

FACT: A 2010 study by the RAND Corporation assessing the impact that marijuana legalization would have in California found that "consumption will increase." ("Altered State? Assessing how marijuana legalization in California could influence marijuana consumption and public budgets," RAND Corporation, 7/7/2010)

"These are our daughters. Mothers. Sisters. Friends.""You can't be pro-woman, and be pro-more women addicted to drugs.""There's nothing Democratic. Nothing progressive. About addiction.""I'm a woman...I'm a woman...I'm a woman...And I'm voting for Ron Nehring for LieutenantGovernor.

STATEMENT FROM RON NEHRING

"California has big challenges -- poverty, unemployment, failing schools. We don't solve them by swinging wide open the doors for more drug abuse and dependency. That's a distraction that takes our state in exactly the wrong direction. Not even his fellow Democrats like Gov. Jerry Brown, Senator Dianne Feinstein and former Democrat Congressman Patrick Kennedy support his position on this issue."

"I support reform of our approach to addictive drugs by focusing on treatment rather than incarceration, that's why I've endorsed in broad terms the reform approach taken by Project SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana). Gavin Newsom will claim that there are only two choices: the status quo or his legalization idea. Yet, there is a third and better way that puts the emphasis on treatment while avoiding creating the conditions that will lead to skyrocketing addiction in California."